Review of The Maze Runner by James Dashner

Title: The Maze Runner
Author: James Dashner
Published by: Delacorte Press
Pages: 375
Source: Borrowed from a friend
Format: Paperback
Rating: ★★★

Summary From Goodreads: When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his first name. His memory is blank. But he’s not alone. When the lift’s doors open, Thomas finds himself surrounded by kids who welcome him to the Glade—a large, open expanse surrounded by stone walls.

Just like Thomas, the Gladers don’t know why or how they got to the Glade. All they know is that every morning the stone doors to the maze that surrounds them have opened. Every night they’ve closed tight. And every 30 days a new boy has been delivered in the lift.

Thomas was expected. But the next day, a girl is sent up—the first girl to ever arrive in the Glade. And more surprising yet is the message she delivers.

Thomas might be more important than he could ever guess. If only he could unlock the dark secrets buried within his mind.

This novel started out a little slow moving for my taste.  It took me a while to get into it and then the last 100 pages flew by. 

The Glade is the terrifying new world that a group of boys got thrown in (after their memories were wiped) and each month a new boy arrives.  They have to learn how to survive by not only planting crops, taking care of animals, but also fighting off vicious creatures.  I cannot think of creatures that were more disgusting and vicious then the creatures were in this book.  They were seriously the worse I think I've encountered.  This world James Dashner created was amazing and completely scary at the same time.  I wish a map would have been included in this novel just so I would see how the Glade was laid out.  So much detail was included that I felt I could imagine everything except the layout.   

The Gladers themselves, even though they are young boys, were wise and weathered beyond their years.  They spend their lives trying to determine a way out of the Glade and they think the key is to solve the maze.  The only problem is that the maze changes every night.  I'm quite impressed with these boys.  They are fighters; even though they were placed in a horrifying situation they've found ways how to survive and hopefully one day beat the system.

I never saw the ending coming.  OMG...it was crazy.  The ending alone makes me want to read the next two books just so I can figure everything out.  The one thing I was really happy with is that the situation that arose in this novel was solved by the end.  Of course there are things that the reader doesn't know about the Gladers situations, but The Maze Runner, even though it is the first book in a triology, could be a great stand alone novel.  Thank you James Dashner for writing a proper book (with a complete ending) in a trilogy.